Traditionally, liquids such as wines have been packaged and sold in glass bottles. Bottles are however breakable, they are relatively heavy, and they consume a relatively large shipping volume which renders bottles somewhat disadvantageous as a packaging medium.
Recently, liquid filled pouches or bags packaged in cardboard containers have been adopted by some producers as an alternative for packaging liquids such as wines, ketchup, milk, milkshake and soft drink syrups, vinegar and water. The bags are filled with liquid, sealed and placed in cartons (which may be pre-labelled), after which the cartons are packaged and palletized for shipment. The liquid filled bags are provided with a leak-proof, non-drip valve or tap, such that, when liquid is released from the filled bag, the bag collapses without allowing air to enter the bag. Thus, there is no oxidation of the liquid which remains in the bag, so the remaining liquid may be stored for a prolonged time. By contrast, air enters a conventional bottle as liquid is poured from the bottle. If the liquid in the bottle is affected by oxidization then it must be consumed relatively quickly to prevent spoilage. The rectangular shape and light weight of the carton in which the liquid filled bag is packaged provides a further advantage as compared with conventional bottles; namely, reduced shipping costs due to more efficient space utilization and weight reduction.
However, some problems have been experienced in packaging liquid filled bags. Each bag is typically equipped with a valve which the end user may manually activate to release a selected amount of liquid from the bag. The cartons in which the liquid filled bags are packaged are provided with aperture covers joined to the carton by perforated lines of weakness. The customer breaks the perforations to remove the aperture cover, thereby exposing the bag valve. It is of critical importance that the liquid filled bag be placed within the carton so that the bag valve is immediately adjacent the aperture cover for ready access by the customer.
Problems have also been experienced in conforming the shape of liquid filled bags to that of the containers into which the bags are inserted. Often, the bag edges protrude from the container after the bag is inserted into the container and the edges are subsequently caught or crimped by the container end panels when they are folded over and sealed to close the bag within the container. If this happens the customer may have difficulty positioning the bag valve in its proper orientation relative to the container aperture for release of liquid from the bag; or, the customer may have difficulty releasing all of the available liquid from the bag.
The present invention provides a bag inserter apparatus which is especially adapted to insert a liquid filled bag into a pre-selected position within a container. More particularly, the apparatus facilitates accurate placement of the bag within the container with the bag valve properly located relative to the container aperture cover and with the bag edges tucked inside the container away from the container end flaps.